


Distant Shores

by archaeologist_d



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon Related, Canon Universe, Gen, Sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 13:53:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14214558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archaeologist_d/pseuds/archaeologist_d
Summary: Merlin keeps going back to where he’d last seen Arthur.





	Distant Shores

It didn’t hurt any more. Centuries of waiting would do that, soften the emotions, mute them until they were barely there. Arthur had been the ghost that haunted him, but the memory of him, once solid agony, had thinned and thinned over time, until there was nothing left but the longing.

Still, Merlin lingered by the shore, chasing after the pain, hoping to bring it back so that he could feel something again. Anything to fill the emptiness.

But there was nothing. There was no call for rescue, no argument or insult, nothing but the lapping of water under his boots and the soft cry of a dove in the hill beyond.  

Hours later, finally done with waiting, Merlin turned away. He’d expected nothing less, certainly not after all this time, but he was stubborn and at least it gave him purpose.

Truth be told, he knew that someday, even the longing would be gone.

Merlin would become the ghost, disappearing into the mist, until finally, finally, there would be nothing left at all.

And Merlin would finally be free.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: 306 - Saudade  
> Author's Notes: A nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant, or that has been loved and then lost; “the love that remains”.  
> Disclaimer: I do not own the BBC version of Merlin; It and Shine do. I am very respectfully borrowing them with no intent to profit. No money has changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended.


End file.
